My dad was the fried mush fan in my family. He had fond memories of eating it when he was young, during the Great Depression. Apparently, his grandmother often made it for him for breakfast. My grandmothers and mom were not as enthusiastic about it, so we did not have it often. In fact, when my dad wanted fried mush in his later years he would just buy a loaf of cornmeal mush from the refrigerated section of the grocery store instead of asking my mom to make it from scratch.
When I discovered that my husband had never eaten fried cornmeal mush, I decided to make some. It requires just a few ingredients and is very easy and inexpensive to make.
While there are recipes that use cornmeal flour, I prefer cornmeal mush made from medium-grind cornmeal. If you are lucky enough to have a local mill near you that grinds smaller batches of cornmeal, you are in luck. If not, many good regional and national brands can be purchased in your grocery store or online. I have used Bob’s Red Mill Medium Grind Cornmeal and one from a gristmill in my area and both turned out well. My mom mostly used Quaker Cornmeal, so I still often keep it as a staple, but I have never made mush with it. However, I think it would make good mush.
While I believe that brand and grind size should be left as a personal preference, I also believe that whatever cornmeal you use should be yellow. Although I live in the “Deep” South now, I prefer yellow cornmeal for most things, but especially for cornmeal mush. I think that you need the bolder flavor of yellow cornmeal for mush rather than the milder flavor of white cornmeal.
Old-Fashioned Fried Cornmeal Mush
Ingredients
- 4 c. water
- 1 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 c. cornmeal
- butter, bacon grease, or other fat for frying
Instructions
- Bring 3 c. water and salt to a boil in a medium pan over high heat.
- Combine 1 c. cold water and 1 c. cornmeal in a bowl or similar container.
- Slowly stir cornmeal mixture into the boiling water and continue stirring constantly until thickened.
- Reduce heat to low or med.-low and cover.
- Cook for 5 – 10+ minutes until desired texture is reached, stirring occasionally. The cooking time will vary depending on your preferences and the grind of the cornmeal. It may take up to 30 minutes for a coarser grind.
- Pour into a buttered loaf pan and cover when cool enough to refrigerate.
- Refrigerate overnight or for at least several hours until the loaf is firm and cold.
- To fry slice as much of the loaf as you want to use into the desired thickness (usually about 1/4 to 1/2-inch).
- Put butter or grease in a skillet or on a griddle over med.-high heat. When hot, add the slices of cornmeal mush and fry until golden brown on both sides.
- Serve with maple syrup, creamed tomatoes, or any other topping of your choosing.
- Cover leftover loaf to have another time. It lasts a couple of days in the refrigerator.
